Air raid drill? Say, what?!? Luckily, Aunt Ivy had warned us ahead of time for the upcoming city-wide air raid drill today from 1:30-2PM, or else we would have looked like one of these hapless tourists being forced indoors by the heavy police presence today.
Since 1978 Taiwan has held an annual air raid drill called the “Mega Peace Exercise” to prepare its citizens from potential military strikes by China. Given the current political climate where the president of one of Taiwan’s historical allies (hint: orange skin) seems to kowtow to communist regimes the air raid drill held today seemed to hold more gravitas. For a half hour, all pedestrians are required to be indoors and all moving vehicles are banned from moving. The fine for not obeying this law is $1000 to $5000 USD! As you can imagine, the entire city becomes a ghost town for a half hour.
Philip and I decided to camp out and eat lunch at the newest branch of Mayur Indian Kitchen in order to get a front row seat to the once-a-year spectacle of empty streets in a massive metropolis. We sat down at a window seat and got our cameras ready. Unfortunately, neither the work staff nor we were prepared for what happened next. Two policemen showed up and told the manager that a fine would be imposed if the security shutters over the windows were not brought down. Noooo!! The manager said that this was never required in the past, but then again, a bevy of Chinese DF-16 ballistic missiles weren’t aimed towards Taiwan in the past either as they have been since the end of 2017.
This is the part where things get surreal. The best description I can come up with is to imagine that you’re in a movie where there is a cut to a dream-like sequence. You’re in a spacious restaurant where the interior designer made liberal use of ornate wood carvings, gold leaf and elephant statues. The only other people in this cavernous space is an Indian family of three with their Taiwanese handler. After the window shutters come down the restaurant darkens, but the inside still glows from the light emitting from the 15 foot projection screen playing Bollywood dance sequences. You ask yourself, “What’s happening? How did I get here?” You realize that the light from the screen won’t be enough for you to see your food when, all of a sudden, lighted plastic tubes changing from red to green to blue turn on, taking you back to those fiber optic spray lamps from the 80s. It then hits you that the only reason why you’re here in the first place is because there is a real threat of military aggression against your birth country, and quite possibly no other country in the world will come to its defense…ugggghhuugg (the sound of my heart sinking).
After the requisite half hour I bolted outside to capture the relatively empty streets before the rush of traffic began just seconds later. The first thing that struck me was the wail of the air raid sirens, which had been drowned out by the Bollywood music playing inside. One or two camera clicks later life returned to normal.
